Wings of Fire Scavenger Story
by Waddles the Pig
Summary: Look through the eyes of the Scavengers in Sanctuary.


The night was cool and the orchestra of owls hooting, and crickets chirping was interrupted by the sound of fear-driven footsteps and exhaustion fuelled pants. Charlotte was bolting through the underbrush, cool grass grazing smoothly over her sweat covered legs. A great guttural roar sounded in the distance, her heart pounding into her head, all she could hear from her mind was the scream of fears and the flow of pumped blood. The night was taunting her with all of its heart as it showed a beautiful star-scape, the stars gazed down, feebly attempting to light the dark. The breath-taking beauty dwarfed by the panting she had to do to keep going.

The large trees, glared down at her, their colossal trunks dwarfing even the titanic beasts of the land. The cheers and laughter in the distance tantalised her to go closer, however if she went the foul beasts would find the village and slaughter the townsfolk. The chill that flowed over her she did not know, it could have been caused by fear or something else.

The bushes of the plain called her to enter them to hide, but if she did, she would be stuck if the dragon caught her. The sound of scales rippling caught her attention, the cold chill once again flowed over her. The snow-white scales of the talon with blades as claws wrapped around her. The fear exploded into a twisted glory, she excepted death, her hand was dealt and was subsequently crushed by the dragon's counter play. She was lifted into the air as the massive scale covered wings spread and started to flap.

Even though she was petrified with fear she still gawked at the beautiful display below her. The rivers flowing silver with the light of the three moons, and the ocean appearing calm attempting to imitate the glowing orbs above. The wind blew past her, almost slicing against her face and causing her to have to cover her eyes out of worry from debris. Although the dragon was terrifying and dangerous looking, it held her with such gentleness that it was odd, the child-like wonder on its snout was hilarious.

He had caught the scavenger and he had managed to gently scoop it up and was now on the way to Sanctuary. Surprisingly the tiny creature didn't really resist, and, was instead looking rather determined when he caught it glancing at the ocean. The air was nice and crisp just for his liking and reminded him at home, at that thought daggers of sadness stabbed him in the heart. The one tear of grief and regret rolled down his frost causing scales. The one tear caught the scavenger's attention and it looked up, the dragon had just fixed his face and then also stared down at the creature with a pitying look.

However the stare of pity was met with a look of a smile on the creature's features, this was unexpected. Was the scavenger mocking him, or was it trying to comfort him? He did not know, but hopefully the research gathered by Sanctuary could help. The only escape from his previous life was Sanctuary and his now disbanded winglet. The anger he felt for his old life melting the ice of regret that covered his mind, the boiling drops being directed at his selfish and uncaring parents. He heard a squeak from his talons and realised he was tightening his grip, he loosened it a bit and looked down at the scavenger with as much as a forgiving face he could.

Charlotte felt pain, that was for sure after all the dragon carrying her squeezed its talons, but as soon as she yelled from the pain its grip loosened. After a few hours of flying and after the moons retreated from the rising sun, they appeared in what seemed like a village under construction. What was truly shocking was that there were large amounts of humans and dragons, but they weren't attacking anyone. After being gently placed on the ground and left alone, a person started to run at her, yelling, "HI THERE, WELCOME TO DRAGONTOWN!".

The man seemed odd as he ran with purpose and seemed to be too positive, he was jumping a bit and was restless when he stopped in front of her. Following behind him however was a sluggish and less motivated person. She wore a similar uniform but was more of a downer, "Howdy Gwen," the man stated as the woman came closer.

"Hello, David now what is it?" Gwen stated, she had black hair along with drooped and tired looking eyes.

"We have a new person to welcome and orientate," David stated again but being carefree and seemed to be naïve to the massive town of dragons around.

"Oh Moons, that's right, I'll get the elder,"

"I was actually hoping to play them that song…" David stated pulling a guitar or similar instrument from behind his back. But after the Guitar or Instrument was half revealed Gwen interrupted with,

"I'm gonna stop you right there… no," following this David placed the instrument behind his back and continued around with a sort of 'tour'.

After seeing some of the major sights for both the dragons and the humans David led her to what seemed like a large room filled with different materials piled to try and form beds. It was so close to human designs for the building that she didn't know if it was built by the other humans or the dragons.

The rest of the day went pretty fast, the sun was beating down on them, and the dragons did stare at them along with some looking rather treacherous and dangerous. The night cam quickly and the cold air was welcome and lulled charlotte into a sleep.

Whirlstar was quickly pacing toward his hut as he ran into Winter. "Greetings Winter, sorry if I hurt you, I just need to get to my hut," Whirlstar stated as he started to navigate around the dragon.

"Wait, I need to show you something," Winter responded and dragged the tired Rainwing toward the sleeping hut for the scavengers. The night air was crisp and so Whirlstar just assumed that Winter didn't mind it as there was also that freezing cold lake further out.

The sleeping hut of the scavengers was rather large for the creatures' small size, the entrance to the interior was barely large enough for a dragonet to fit through. This was intentional as it allowed the scavengers to go in and out but stopped any… discouraging dragons from entering. There was still some squeaking and gibberish coming from the hut but other than that there was silence.

With slow and careful movements Winter drew out some of the scavengers. Of course, the scavengers squealed as Winter grabbed them and brought them out. But he gently placed them down and started to stare at Whirlstar with a pleased look as he talked about them.

The boredom was too much to bear for Whirlstar until Winter asked if he would like to hold one of them. Energy flooded over Whirlstar as he held one of the scavengers, he was as gentle as he could be. The panicking from the little creature made it difficult but instead of clenching it in a fist he instead cupped his talons together. After gently holding the scavenger he decided to sleep near them to protect them. Of course, Winter was distrustful of him but seeing as how the dragon was a Rainwing and was very tired he might as well.

"Don't you dare hurt them," Winter threatened as he turned slowly around while eyeing Whirlstar suspiciously.

"Don't worry about us," Whirlstar stated as he threw the scavenger gently into the hut and then laid down in front of the entrance. This would catch anyone's eye because it is very obvious something is off when a Rainwing is sleeping right outside the Scavenger sleeping hut. But sleep overtook Whirlstar as he was going to sleep somewhere else mainly being his hut, but he decided to guard the scavengers.

David gazed out upon the stone ground and saw the giant beast laying down upon the cold road. After a few minutes the dragon faded away after it calmed down, of course one of the other people decided to try and run for it. "The Dragon is gone, quick we can make a break for it," the man called, suddenly a group of others followed as they sprinted full tilt at the entrance. After a few meters one of them kicked something and they looked confused as much as possible. As would be expected the dragon appeared in front of them and grabbed the ringleader along with growling at the others.

The group sprinted inside while the ringleader was growled and barked at by the dragon and seemed to be quite scared. David couldn't let something terrible happen even if it was a possibility. David yelled at the titanic beast, "LET HIM GO, YOU OVERGROWN SACK OF SCALES, LET HIM GO!".

The dragon surprisingly dropped the terrified person and instead glared at David before pushing them inside the hut, however it scratched the Ringleader lightly as if warning him what could and would happen if he tried that stunt again. After a few minutes of careful observation by the Rainwing it laid down and then disappeared. The tension that was slowing through the hut was so dense you could call it the ringleader of the stunt.

The makeshift beds didn't assist in making sleep much easier but, seeing as how many of the people were closing their eyes and then falling silent David decided to wait for a few more minutes. After the incredibly awkward and stressful time was over and David was sure that everyone was asleep, he snuck outside and decided to cling to the base of the structure to make certain that the Rainwing guarding the place wasn't being disturbed.

The dragon was odd as David heard that the Rainwings were timid and rather peaceful, but this one seemed to be happy to hurt them in order for them to not cause any trouble. It was difficult not to disturb the dragon as David couldn't even see it at all, and the breathing that was coming from it being nearby didn't help. After he had gone to the back of the building he walked quietly to see if he could do anything.

The moons glanced down on him, illuminating his face and allowing him to see a few metres in front of himself. The building that towered over him were filled with dragon-like shapes and sounds, and in some of the human areas there was some slight noise from mice or over creatures that scrounged for food in the dark. David thought of how he had acted earlier with the Rainwing, he was foolish, it could have torn David apart but instead it just pushed them back into the building. The worst that him and the fool suffered was just a scratch down the back from the Rainwing on the fool, as the fool led the break-out. After thinking about what thankfully didn't happen, he was suddenly lifted off the ground and placed on the scaly back of what he assumed was the Rainwing. After he opened his terrified and worried eyes, he saw the black scales of what he assumed was a Nightwing, but it turned out to just be the Rainwing. However the scowl on its face was showing that it wasn't too pleased with another escape attempt. "Welp, do what you must, my fault," David said as he laid down on the dragons back.

Whirlstar was a bit annoyed at the scavenger but then again, this one didn't try and sprint through the city instead it was just staring at the other buildings around. Deciding that the other scavengers were fast asleep, Whirlstar decided to have a fly with the scavenger. Carefully he placed the scavenger on his shoulder and spread his wings, a little yelp of surprise came from the creature as Whirlstar lifted off the ground.

The view was breathtaking, the stars danced and played in the rivers and lakes as the moons watched content and proud. The scales of anger was gone and Whirlstar had turned back to his usual scale colour of swirls of blues and purples with hints of gold and silver speckled over him. Although this dragon wasn't the best at flying, he had been practicing, he didn't want to attempt very much out of fear of making the scavenger fall. Whirlstar didn't want to also try and explain to Winter why one scavenger was missing when Whirlstar was guarding the hut.

So he decided to glide back down and saw the scavenger look a bit disappointed at the low amount of flying, but it would have to get used to it and sleep. A gathering of scavenger led by a similar one to which led the first 'escape' attempt, which Whirlstar would call 'Talon' as the second leader of the group. Deciding to scare them into the hut instead of pushing them in there, as he landed softly, he let down the creature on his scaled shoulder and decided to camouflage himself as he approached.

The little beast was letting out gibberish in what seemed like a speech as it glanced sown at the others. Annoyance welled around the inside of Whirlstar's treacherous and backstabbing mind, he saw that 'Talon' was the same one he lightly scratched from the first 'break-out'. Ever so carefully he decided to go behind 'Talon' and just listened, the gibberish wasn't understandable, but it did sound inspirational. _Stupid creatures, why couldn't they just build a closed area that the scavengers needed a dragon's help to get out of_, Whirlstar thought.

A low growl emanated from Whirlstar's snout as he had the thought, the growl betrayed him and so he decided to just make his presence clear. The shifting scales just went to black and the scavengers looked terrified at the massive creature before them. Whirlstar wasn't large by dragon standards and was rather short but he still towered over the scavengers. And since he couldn't speak scavenger, he simply showed his fangs in a scowl and roared at them.

Charlotte was petrified at the look of the dragon before them, it being rather furious was obvious to everyone. The white fangs that had rested in its maw were displayed in a scowl that was so cold it could cause an Icewing to shiver. David was the only one missing, but he soon appeared around the curve of the hut. He looked absolutely elated but that changed when he saw the Dragon glaring at them.

A roar emanated from the beast as it paced slowly at them, fear forced everyone to the inside of the hut. The dragon did pick up the person that was standing on a small box, apparently the man's name was 'Herald'. Another scowl came from the dragon's muzzle, the shaking of Herald grew to a crescendo as the dragon started to poke him. As the long night ceased and the sun clawed its way up the sky. Herald was dropped as the dragon left toward the larger city surrounding them.

And after the morning left them and midday arrived the dragon that caught Charlotte gazed down at them as he moved around. The dragon from last evening was near him and was talking to him in what Charlotte could only make out as just roars and hisses. The gesture toward Herald by the guard dragon, and a snort came from the Icewing, but it was silenced as the other beast showed the Icewing two claws as though showing the number of escapes attempted.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**Hey everyone, this is odd because for a while I had no inspiration, but yes, I just dropped a 2k+ word post featuring scavengers, please comment any ideas you could have for the next chapter(s). That is it for me, Waddles the Pig out.**


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